Busou Renkin

Disguising themselves as humans, homunculi inhabit the world to prey on the unsuspecting population. Created long ago by alchemists from Europe, homunculi are difficult to eliminate without weapons known as Kurogane. Each Kurogane is uniquely shaped according to its wielder's instincts, taking the form of special abilities called Busou Renkin.

While walking home from school one day, Kazuki Mutou spots a defenseless girl under attack by a homunculus. But as he attempts to intervene, the girl ends up saving Kazuki’s life instead, shattering his ignorant worldview. The girl introduces herself as Tokiko Tsumura, and Kazuki soon learns that she has accidentally implanted a Kurogane inside of him. Now unintentionally dragged into the fight against homunculi, Kazuki must forgo his former life of leisure in order to protect the ones he holds dear.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tsumura, Tokiko Main

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Muto, Kazuki Main

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Chouno, Koushaku Main

Madono, Mitsuaki Japanese

Sakimori, Mamoru Main

Ebara, Masashi Japanese

Powered, Victor Main

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Moon Face Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Hayasaka, Shusui Supporting

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Victoria Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Sakaguchi, Shosei Supporting

Hayami, Show Japanese

Muto, Mahiro Supporting

Hirano, Aya Japanese

Nakayama, Nobuhiro Producer

Kawase, Kouhei Producer

Chino, Takatoshi Producer

Ooyoshi, Makoto Producer

Reviews

May 6, 2010

burntlettuce

Recommended

We all have those series. Which for some unknown reason we can't help to love. We know we shouldn't, we know it's not good. But we can't help but watch the series and be totally entranced by it. Buso Renkin is that anime for me. It's a totally predictable, cliche, crony shonen anime. It's nothing new, it literally brings nothing new to the table, but I just can't help but love this series.

Buso Renkin is your typically shonen experience. It's got a main character who is given a power by another and mysteriously keeps powering up and doesn't ever seem to ... lose any of the battles he is in. This literally sums up Buso Renkin, it's fight after fight, power up after power up, but Kazuki doesn't ever seem to lose. Each episode for the most part does have some pretty humorous comedy in it. Just random outbursts by the characters ect...but it helps keep the action somewhat fresh. It's got some nice romance that develops along the way(I am a sucker for anything love related). One thing that was a let down was the action in this show. I have never been one to enjoy shonen's were it is just power ups and beat downs. There is one really amazing fight, where I can only imagine most of this anime's budget was spent. But the action isn't that good in my opinion.

Despite this the show is still incredibly enjoyable. If I had to attribute why this show is so enjoyable, I would have to say it's the chemistry. Everything comes together so well, and I would have to say this show's main success is the pacing. It lays everything down in front of the viewer in a very logical coherent path. Nothing is ever rushed. Despite Kazuki gaining as many power ups as he does, it never feels overwhelming. It never feels like he is always meant to win, or that he is over powered. It feels like he is just growing. The show allows time for comedy, but it never forces it. It doesn't add comedy in dramatic moments for the effect of comedy, it simple puts comedy in places where it belongs. Even the relationship that starts to develop between Kazuki and Tokiko isn't forced. You really get to see the chemistry between these two characters grow and you get the see the feelings manifest, something of which I did not expect to see in this anime.

The show's characters(Mainly Tokiko) also made me fall in love with this shows. While Kazuki isn't anything new in terms of characters, he certainly isn't bad. He is just a typical shonen good-guy. He wants to do what ever it takes to protect everyone around him, even if it means scarfing himself. However Tokiko is the real star of this show. She starts out, cold, brash, and filled with hatred. But by the end of the series she is, open, shy, and full of love to give. She truly goes through amazing development through the series. Most of it comes from being around Kazuki, and beginning to learn what it is to like to love and want to protect things dear to you. Now what made Tokiko so awesome in my eyes, to be blunt, was the fact that she was a badass. Screaming "I will rip out your guys" killing all the Homunculus in her sight, and to be honest, not to many people can sport a scar as hers and remain that sexy. Her personality and development just made her a truly enjoyable character.


At the end of the day, nothing changes with Buso Renkin though. It is still your predictable, cliche shonen series were the good guy always wins. This series brings nothing new to the table, but at the end of the day it's enjoyable. And that is all that really matters. So if you are looking for a good action anime(That mixes several anime concepts), with some very awesome characters, and a good mix of comedy and romance. Then I suggest you try Buso Renkin.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 17, 2012

rondoblend

Mixed Feelings

Busou renkin follows the standart formula of a shounen anime. it doesn't offer nothing new whatsoever. Anyone who has a good iQ and has been watching anime for at least a few months will know what to expect.
So i won't bother you with a lengthy review, just remember one or two shounen animes that you have watched , and do a deduction (generalization). and you get a grip of Busuo renkin.
But for inexperied anime lovers this anime is good enough

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Oct 11, 2024

MistyBlue

Not Recommended

Intro to the Review: (skip 2 paragraphs to get into the review)
After reading some of the reviews for this anime, I am somewhat surprised that many express the same thoughts: "this anime was generic as heck, but I still love the darn anime and give it an 8 or higher!"

For me, this anime should not receive anything higher than a 6 because it does not bring anything new to the table of overused concepts and cliches. Most, if not all anime, share some of the same concepts, but exceptionally good ones bring a twist to them that make it enjoyable. For this anime, not ... so much. However, I think those who like the anime might be due to the guy in the butterfly mask (in the anime cover picture), known as Papillon or Chouno in the anime. For more info on that, gloss over to my Character and Art portion. In the review below, I'll explain why this anime is "mediocre" and not "very good".

Story:
It's pretty much like Bleach. Mysterious girl meets boy who saves her...girl gives guy immense power and later you get to meet the organization that she works for. What's different in this anime is that the organization is not as established as the one in Bleach. Instead of meeting a few of them little by little, you meet chunks of them in an episode, giving you time to barely care about them. You barely know about it and the rest of its members until more than halfway through the anime. And then there's the Kakugane (what every alchemist warrior in this show has) that has the ability to transform into a powerful weapon. What is so annoying about this is how the kakugane makes so much BS in the show and yet it is given the least explanation and care about it. But of course, how is our main protagonist going to power up if we can't add some random superpowers along the way? The comedy was stale, the fight scenes were somewhat boring, and there was less and less suspense as the show progressed.

Sound:
The first ED was the main reason why I wanted to watch this series. The song had a beautiful and sad melody to it and it felt poignant to me. This music didn't fit in with 95% of the anime, which was mainly filled with corny jokes, generic fight scenes, and nakama moments. The second ED and OP were cheesy, so it went with the anime. The OST in the anime is pretty much your typical shounen fight scene music.

Art:
The animation was consistent throughout the show; not noteworthy, but not poorly done a majority of the time. The setting in the beginning of the anime is in a generic school scene. What does make this anime memorable to most who have seen this anime would be the character design, most notably Papillon. Shown in the poster of this page, he is not your typical antagonist (at least in the fashion sense). His flamboyant attire is the only thing he's got going in terms of "uniqueness" and it overshadows the rest of the characters.

Character:
Speaking of characters, let's start off with Papillion since that's what the show ever cares about (he even has the entire second ED to himself). At first, I thought he'd have a major impact in the story, but he's just there ...to be there in all of his bizarre glory. I swear that whoever made this story up made a character as flamboyant as he was just to hide the fact that the story is lackluster and offers nothing new in the shounen category. If you have seen HxH, he might remind you of Hisoka, an antagonist of a story whom several anime watchers might like because of his eccentric attitude, attire, personality, and strength. To me, Papillon gave me the feeling of, "Oh, it's you again" (kinda like Team Rocket) every time he appeared on the screen. I just feel like he is more like a moth than a butterfly...always flying over your head, making sure you don't forget about him. His personality and reason for going against the MC is so lame that sometimes you think the author just threw on a butterfly suit on him just to make him more appealing as a villain. If you pay attention enough, he'll say hypocrite whenever he appears.

All you need to know about the MC, Muto, is that he is the perfect mold of a shounen character: he's got the hair, the "I gotta save the world without getting anyone killed" catchphrase, the power to overpower anyone that overpowered him before in less than a month, and the ability to easily overcome life and death situations every time. You can't hate this guy as the MC, right? Right? One thing I do like about him is that he doesn't have a sad past like the common shounen character.

Then there's Tokiko, the blue-haired girl with a scar across her face. She's a stern and serious girl, but she's also very caring inside. I do give her credit though for being able to hold up in most of the fights she's been in, despite the fact that Muto has been doing the heavy lifting a majority of the anime. That's pretty much it about her. The rest of the characters felt so generic, forgettable, and disposable, that you get expected responses from Tokiko and Muto and you probably won't remember their names while watching the show. Like I said before, a chunk of characters get shoved in one episode and over a span of some episodes, making you go "meh" every time they show up on the screen. There's really nothing exciting about the characters.

Enjoyment:
What was there to enjoy in this anime? The characters were boring and annoying, the comedy was cheesy and short-lived, and the battle animation was sub par. Just because it adhered to the typical shounen genre with the flashy battle scenes and added in some weird characters that didn't really belong in this show, I didn't enjoy it at all. It didn't excite me enough to want to continue to the next episode.

Overall, the story, it's characters, and the art didn't captivate me. Things that annoyed me the most were the lack of good storytelling, disposable side characters who waste precious screentime and an ordinary MC who preaches the same thing, and convenient power ups that feel like a cheat to a game.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Help: Buso Renkin filler episodes? JoNuttanon1994 - Apr 17	2 replies	by Jinks2504 »» Apr 17, 4:34 PM
	Poll: Busou Renkin Episode 1 Discussion nehnehneji - May 10, 2008	28 replies	by Zane_0 »» Jan 16, 2023 8:34 AM
	Poll: Busou Renkin Episode 26 Discussion ( 1 2 ) DarkBlue - Apr 22, 2008	76 replies	by Narity_ »» May 22, 2022 2:45 AM
	Poll: Busou Renkin Episode 23 Discussion theeggman85 - Dec 18, 2008	21 replies	by Narity_ »» May 21, 2022 2:41 AM
	Poll: Busou Renkin Episode 5 Discussion theeggman85 - Nov 24, 2008	16 replies	by Narity_ »» May 8, 2022 8:24 AM

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